


The Comet

by PleasingNight



Category: Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF, Julius Caesar - Shakespeare
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, Prophetic Dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 06:56:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17824034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PleasingNight/pseuds/PleasingNight
Summary: Calpurnia.When beggars die, there are no comets seen;The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.- Julius CaesarCaesar’s Comet appeared several months after Caesar’s assassination. But Calpurnia - and she alone - can see it by the ides of March.





	The Comet

Calpurnia sees the first dream the night after the Lupercalia. Everything that could go bad that day went _terrible_ , so the best Calpurnia can manage is slam her bedroom’s door shut and fall asleep.

In Calpurnia’s dream, the statue of Venus in the temple comes alive. Tall and splendid, she walks through the empty chamber and picks a coal from the burning brazier. She holds it as if it was the golden apple, and then swallows it. Calpurnia can see the red glow inside her marble throat, moving down and down.

Golden Isis watches from her niche.

 

In another house on the Palatine, Porcia stirs in her bed and finds no Brutus beside her. She slips into her shoes and walks out into the garden.

* * *

Another night, Calpurnia dreams of a Vestal turning into the sacred flame.

 

Cassius sleeps soundly, knowing he has done his job well. The conspiracy lives and breathes and walks among the living, like Pandora, with a gracious smile on her lips.

* * *

Every dream is filled with more and more obvious anticipation. Calpurnia knows the one she’s waiting for is getting close. She is wearing a flaming veil of her own unbraided hair.

Calpurnia is growing impatient. She’s glancing into the future like she’d glance into the end of a book. She would skip chapters. She would turn the days into one long night and dream.

* * *

The cage door bolts open. The lioness raises her head and curiously tastes the humid, stormy air. After a brief consideration, she yawns, stretches her back, and walks out.

* * *

A light foot steps onto the roof and burns through it. The fire spreads fast, the smoking debris of the roof rain down on Calpurnia’s bed. She knows they must be scorching and piercing, but she feels no fear. She cries out, but not in pain.

* * *

Mark Antony is returning from a party when a pair of green eyes glares at him from the far end of the alley.

He squints into the dark, really uncertain if he sees what he sees.

“Uh?.. Kitty?”

The lioness growls.

“Fine, I get it”, Antony slowly backs off, “I’ll just leave”.

* * *

“Let Antony and Caesar fall together”, says Cassius, not for the first time that night.

"No", says Brutus, for the last time that night. "We will not touch Antony".

* * *

In the morning Calpurnia sees Caesar - and his face reminds her of another vision. A statue in the theatre, bleeding saffron-water.

“They are going to murder you.”

* * *

Calpurnia coldly studies the two men before her - and knows they cannot see her. They could not even if they tried. She looks at Decimus Brutus - and sees the river-embraced city of Mutina. She looks at Caesar - and sees his body disappearing in the fire.

“Break up the senate till another time, when Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams”, says Decimus Brutus. Both he and Caesar smile. They expect her to smile back.

Maybe she **is** barren. Maybe her womb is burned from the inside. Maybe she likes it this way.

 

“How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!”, says Caesar.

Something in her, something big and red and restless and grinning widely, wants her to say: "Sorry, I really was so foolish. Thank you for clearing things up for me, Decimus!" - and smile, and **shove** Caesar out of the door to his death.

But there is a line. There is a measure. She must not lie. Besides, the result will be the same if she stays pale and silent and solemn. Like a statue with the fire inside.

* * *

Calpurnia is sitting in the chair opposite the water clock - a fancy thing from Alexandria - not so much looking at the pointer as listening to the drops fall, when they bring her the word of Caesar’s death.

The news do not move her, nor does she move from her position. She is waiting for something entirely different.


End file.
